To GabrielleBlue
by Sookie's Secret Santa
Summary: Love from Sookie's Secret Santa xXx


**Title: **Online Dating?

**To:**GabrielleBlue

**Summary: **Not having much luck in the "regular" dating world, Sookie decides to branch out and try online dating.

~v

_Any author's notes from the person who wrote this gift fic have been removed to prevent any identifying information being revealed. The individual author can post this story to their own profile, complete with intended A/Ns, after the 26th December. We hope this gift fic is enjoyed by all – but mostly for the person it was written for. Thank you to this author for taking part in the first Sookie's Secret Santa fic exchange. Due to the number of participants it will be impossible to post all of the stories in one day - don't worry, everyone will get their gift before Christmas Eve :o)  
><em>

_Santa's little helpers_

_Blakes Boogie & Jan of Arc xx_

_~v~_

Sookie sighed as she sank down onto her couch after a long day at school. She toed off her heels and wiggled her toes to get the blood flowing in them again. She then propped her feet up on her coffee table and lay back on the couch, luxuriating in the quietness of her apartment.

After allowing herself several minutes to move on from the stress of her day, she pried herself off the couch and made her way into the kitchen, trying to figure out what she wanted to make for dinner that evening. She opened up several cabinets, but nothing jumped out at her. She then moved on to the freezer, hoping there would be something in there to call to her; she really didn't want to order out because she loved to cook.

Cooking was quite therapeutic for Sookie. When she felt stressed or struggled to make a decision, she usually cooked something which allowed her mind to open up and she was able to work through whatever she needed to work through. Her work week had been particularly stressful. Sookie taught high school English, primarily 12th grade, and she was trying to help her students research a story and write an analysis on it. Let's just say that it was worse than pulling teeth. Every day left school tired and stressed because it seemed like her students weren't getting it.

Today had been particularly bad because today it seemed like all her students were having melt downs about their papers and were unable to find anything that they needed by themselves, so Sookie had been running back and forth all day long trying to help her students get where they needed to be. However, Sookie knew she couldn't do another day like the one she had just endured, so she knew she needed to reevaluate exactly what she was doing.

Before she let herself travel down that path, she shut her mind to all things that are work related and decided to log onto Facebook and check up on her friends. Logging on, she started to scroll through her news feed. She saw where her friend Tara had posted a picture of her newborn daughter, Holly had posted on her fiancé's wall and several other stories about her friends doing this and that with their significant others. Seeing that was almost as frustrating as school because Sookie had been single for quite a while. She definitely felt like the odd one out whenever her friends got together.

Sighing, Sookie shut her computer and sat back, thinking about her dating life or lack thereof. It wasn't for lack of trying on her part to get a date, but it seemed like every guy she met just wanted one thing out of life and that was something that she was not willing to give up quickly. Of course, the guys she had been meeting had been at bars on nights out with her girlfriends and that was after they would push her towards any guy they saw.

For a while now she had wanted companionship of more than just her cat and the odd girl's night here and there. She was ready to be at the same place in her life that her friends were: in committed relationships with awesome guys. And it was obvious that whatever she was or was not doing wasn't cutting it. "_Well no more,"_ she thought to herself.

With new determination, Sookie opened her computer again and went to Google, searching free internet dating. A big list came up and she started to browse through, seeing which one she liked the best and seemed the easiest to navigate. She finally found one that seemed easy to use and clicked the "Join Now!" button.

However, before filling out the form, she paused, asking herself if this was something she really wanted to do; resort to an online dating site to help her find someone. _"Snap out of it! Put on your big girl panties and take your life into your own hands!"_ she chastised herself and started to fill in the form.

A few minutes later, she had an empty profile that she needed and fill and no idea of what she should put. She decided to think about that a bit more and go on and add pictures first. She looked on Facebook and in her saved pictures folder, finding some good shots of her and her friends out and about. After getting them uploaded, she went back to the empty profile and stared at it. What was she supposed to say about herself? What made her that awesome and great?

Sookie decided to just be honest about herself: she was a girl from a small town in Louisiana who now lived in Shreveport teaching high school English and filling in further things about herself as she went through. When she finished filling out the profile, she read back through it, making some changes and submitted it to the site, immediately closing it after. She might have made a big step in creating the profile, but that didn't mean she was ready to start looking at some of the guys on there.

Sookie looked at the clock and noticed that she had wasted a lot of time on her computer and now didn't want to cook dinner anymore. She sighed and got the menu to the local Chinese restaurant that delivered to her. She made sure she ordered enough food that it would last her a few days so she could eat it for lunch and maybe for dinner a few days also.

After doing that, she made sure Tina (her cat, who had been scarce since she got home) had some food and water and then went to pick a movie to watch while she ate. Since she was feeling a little sappy, she settled for "The Notebook" and popped it in the DVD player.

She had just finished setting everything up when her door buzzed, indicating her food was there. She quickly buzzed them up, got her money out and was waiting at the door when the delivery boy got up the stairs. She quickly paid him, gave him a nice tip and made her way into her apartment to start her evening at home. As she sat down, Tina finally came to see her, rubbing against her legs before jumping up to join her on the couch. Sookie scratched her behind the ears real quick before plating up some of her food.

Sookie hit play, immersing herself in Noah and Ally's romance in the 40s and 50s. She had finished eating and was enthralled by them being caught in the rain when her phone buzzed, indicating she had an e-mail. She debated ignoring it, but if she knows her phone has gone off she can't concentrate on anything else until she checks it. She sighs as Noah and Ally tumble into Noah's house and turns to pick up her phone.

She opens her message folder and sees that she has an e-mail from the dating site she joined stating that she has received a message. She grabs her computer, curious to see who messaged her. She logs in quickly and clicks to her message folder, seeing someone with the screen name CivilWarFanatic has messaged her. She opens the message and reads:

_BlueEyedAngel, (Sookie's name)_

_I was reading through your profile and couldn't help but notice how much we have in common with each other. We are both from smaller towns in Louisiana and share many of the same hobbies. I was hoping we could start a discourse between each other and get to know one another better. Is this amenable to you?_

_CivilWarFanatic_

Sookie's eyes were huge as she read the message. At first she was really excited about receiving a message from someone after a very small amount of time on the site. She then reread the message and got a little confused. This Civil War guy kind of talked like he was from the Civil War, but she didn't really think there was a whole lot wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with being a little older sounding.

Sookie quickly clicked over to his profile and read it, noting that they did seem to have an awful lot in common. They both enjoyed reading, having picnics and doing "touristy" things in new places. Looking at his pictures, he didn't look too bad. He had dark brown hair with some random sideburns, was somewhat on the pale side (but she attributed that to the fact that he mentions he's a computer programmer and doesn't get out much during the day) and had dark brown eyes. Overall, Sookie thought he sounded ok and decided to message him back.

She opened up the message again and quickly typed out a reply:

_CivilWarFanatic,_

_We do have a lot in common and I am definitely open to getting to know you more. You say that you're from a small town in Louisiana also, where are you from originally?_

_BlueEyedAngel_

Sookie hit send before she lost her nerve and shut her computer. She was now sitting on pins and needles waiting to see if she was messaged back and what he had to say. She didn't have to wait long, about 10 minutes or so, before her phone buzzed indicating she had another message. She checked and saw he had messaged back, so logged back on.

Reading through the message she saw that he was from Bon Temps and let out a squeal. She didn't get to meet many people from her home town anymore since many of them didn't like to venture outside of the small towns limits unless they had a cause to. She quickly e-mailed him back about the coincidence about them being from the same town, wondering if there was a chance they actually knew each other since it was unlikely she wouldn't know him.

For the rest of the evening, Sookie messaged this guy and they talked about everything. They really seemed to hit it off and Sookie was very excited that night when she went to bed because her first foray into dating by herself was turning out quite well it seemed.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Sookie awoke the next morning with a smile on her face, remembering the conversation she had the night before. She rolled over and grabbed her phone, anxious to see if she had any other messages from him. She saw that she did and squealed before logging on through her phone to read the message.

It was pretty simple, just him wishing her a good morning and saying that he hoped she enjoyed her Saturday. Sookie smiled goofily to herself and giggled before bounding out of bed. She's normally much more sedate in the morning until she gets her coffee, but with getting herself out there and in the dating world, she felt like she owned it this particular morning.

She quietly hummed to herself as she set about making her morning coffee and turning the TV on to a local news station. As she waited for her coffee to brew, she reread the message from CivilWarFanatic and decided to send him a reply saying she hoped he had a good Saturday as well.

As she finished that, her coffee finished brewing and she quickly made herself a cup and went about starting her day. Periodically her phone would buzz and it would be a message from that guy or someone else on the site, but so far the only person to peak her interest was CivilWarFanatic. She tried to politely refuse the other guys, but she quickly discovered that if she sent a polite message saying she wasn't interested (her Gran would tan her hide if she was anything but!) she would get a pissy message back from them that said some not very nice things.

By Saturday evening she was beat from cleaning, grocery shopping and getting things together for the following week in class. But she was also smiling giddily. CivilWarFanatic had told her his name was Bill and that if he wasn't being too forward he would like to meet her for brunch the following day. Sookie was a little hesitant to meet someone so quickly, but she really felt like she had a connection to this guy and they'd have to meet at some point was her reasoning. So, she agreed to meet him the following day at 11 at a local bistro.

She went to bed that night smiling and excited about the following days prospects.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Sookie was a bundle of nervous energy the next morning as she got dressed for her date. Every time she tried to put make up on her face she could see her hands shaking and had to stop to get herself under control. Eventually she was fully dressed and stood back to take stock of herself in the mirror. She was wearing a cute black top that helped to show off her figure some with some jeans and black flats. She had straightened her hair and left it down around her shoulders and put on minimal makeup. She thought she looked pretty good and was ready to meet her date.

Sookie quickly gathered her purse and jacket before heading out the door. Since the bistro was so close she decided to walk there since it was incredibly cold. She arrived at "Neutral Ground" about 10 minutes early and went ahead and claimed a table by the windows so she could watch and see when Bill arrived.

She didn't have to wait very long before she saw him walking up. Immediately she was surprised. In his pictures he was pale with long sideburns. In real life he was the same way, but what he had forgotten to mention on his profile was that he was no longer as thin as his pictures led him to be. He was at least a hundred pounds heavier.

Sookie quickly gathered her wits because she saw when he found her and prepared herself to have lunch with someone. She quickly slapped her uncomfortable smile on her face and offered her hand, saying, "Hi, I'm Sookie. You must be Bill."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Bill said as he limply shook her hand.

Sookie raised as eyebrow and sat down. A waiter made his way over to take their drink order, stating he would be back in a few minutes for their order. They both looked over their menu in an awkward silence and Sookie tried to find something to talk about before it got extremely awkward. "So, you're a computer programmer? What exactly is it that you do? I don't really know much about computer except how to turn them on and use them to get work done."

Bill glanced at her and sighed as he put his menu down. "Well, it's quite simple really," Bill started before launching into an extremely long and boring description of what he did for a living.

During this long speech the waiter came to quickly take their orders and drop off their drinks before disappearing just as quickly. Sookie quickly found herself becoming bored because as soon as Bill finished his description of his job he launched into his Civil War reenactment hobby.

The waiter again interrupted them to bring their food and still Bill kept on talking, even when he was eating. Sookie couldn't get a word in edgewise and she was quickly regretting agreeing to meet Bill after talking to him for such a short amount of time. She quickly at her meal, hoping that he would eat his quickly (even with the talking) and then was forced to sit there with nothing to occupy her as he continued to pontificate about himself.

Eventually Bill finished eating and took a breath. Sookie quickly excused herself, saying she had to go to the bathroom. She walked quickly into the bathroom and pulled out her phone. Doing some quick thinking, she set up an alarm to go off in 5 minutes time so she could get herself out of this situation. She waited a few extra seconds to make it seem believable that she was using the restroom and made her way back to her table. She sat down and apologized.

Bill quickly picked up where he left off, boring her to death about something or other and Sookie almost shouted for joy when her phone went off. She apologized for interrupting him and pulled her phone, pretending to read an urgent text message, even going so far as to gasp when she read it.

"What?" Bill asked her.

Sookie quickly started to gather her things and said, "I'm so sorry to run like this, but my friend just texted me and she has some sort of emergency. She's pregnant right now and her husband is deployed, so I'm worried it's something with her baby. How much do I need to leave for lunch?"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Bill said. "Don't worry about lunch; I'll cover it this time. You can make it up to me next time."

Sookie just shook her head and said goodbye before almost sprinting out the door. She briskly walked down the sidewalk towards her apartment before allowing herself to breath.

"_That date was horrible!"_ she thought to herself. _"I definitely need to talk to guys more before agreeing to meet them."_

Sookie continued to mentally chastise herself about her failed date all the way back to her apartment. She walked into her apartment and let out a sigh. Her first date was a flop and that made her lose hope somewhat that this online dating thing wasn't a good idea. But she wasn't going to let herself get down because of one failed date.

Sookie decided that she wasn't going to let the horrible date ruin the rest of her Sunday and grabbed her computer, making the decision to log onto her dating site and actively start looking at guy's profiles and maybe even work the nerve up to message some of them.

She started on her matches page and started to go through the guys that the site suggested. She quickly figured out that the guys the site suggested were not guys she would be interested in in a million years. Many of them were guys that still lived at home with their parents and were perfectly content doing that or were really weird gamers or into role playing on the weekends. Definitely not the guy for her.

Just when Sookie was starting to lose hope that she would find someone she was interested in, she came across the profile Wolfman2011. He looked pretty decent from his small thumbnail, so Sookie clicked on his name to visit his profile. When she opened up his profile she almost had to start fanning herself. The little thumbnail did not do him any justice. He was a very rugged looking guy. He had dark, thick, curly hair and dark piercing eyes. His profile said he was a construction worker and there was a picture of him at the construction site without a shirt. Sookie was definitely hardcore drooling now.

She quickly read through the rest of his profile, noting that he liked to read and work with his hands and decided she'd bite the bullet and message this guy and hope that something would come of it. She clicked the "Send a Message" link and waited for the box to load before writing:

_Wolfman2011,_

_I came across your profile and noticed that we have very similar tastes in reading. What's the most recent novel that you've read that you would recommend?_

_BlueEyedAngel_

Sookie paused for a few seconds before hitting send and promptly shutting her computer. Her heart was hammering in her chest from doing something so forward, but she also felt pretty good about it because it wasn't very often that she made the first move and she figures that might be why she's been single for so long.

Sookie then went to take a shower and made a point to not think about the message she had sent and wondering about whether she would hear anything back. She actually did a pretty good job of not thinking about it and didn't even check her phone again until she was getting ready to go to bed. When she pulled up her messages, she saw where she had gotten a message and quickly pulled up her messages on the site to read what he said.

_BlueEyedAngel,_

_I must say you definitely are a blue eyed angel based on your profile. I definitely like what I see. I actually haven't had much of an opportunity to read recently as I've been working a lot more hours than usual, so I don't have any suggestions for you. But I noticed that you're an English teacher, so do you have any suggestions for me so that I have something to read whenever I finally get the chance to?_

_Wolfman2011_

Sookie squealed when she read the message, but decided that she would wait to respond until the following morning. She wanted some time to think about things. She went to bed that night with another smile on her face and with a hope that this next guy would end up being better than Bill.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Sookie ended up messaged Wolfman2011 for about two weeks before agreeing to meet up with him. They decided on going to a local barbeque place and eating dinner. Since they were going to place that was fairly low key, Sookie decided to dress down a little more, but not too much since eating barbeque could be fairly messy. She eventually decided on a cute purple top she had with a pair of dark washed jeans and nude high heels. She left her hair down in its natural curls and just pinned it back on the sides.

After brushing on some light make up, she grabbed her purse and made her way out the door. She wanted to make sure she arrived at the restaurant early. She locked her door and made her way to her car and felt the butterflies start. She was really nervous and hoped that this date wouldn't be as bad as the first one.

She arrived at "The Pit" with plenty of time to spare and looked to see if she saw Alcide's (Wolfman2011) truck. She didn't, so she tried to breathe slowly so that she wouldn't get worked up about meeting him. As she was working through her breathing, she noticed a big suped up truck come into the parking lot. Sookie remembered Alcide mentioning that his truck had a lift kit, dual exhaust and several other enhancements. She quickly checked herself in her rearview mirror before getting out of the car and going to stand beside her car door.

She could see Alcide climb out of his truck a few cars down and felt her heart start to beat a little faster when she got a look at him. His pictures on the site made him look quite handsome, but they definitely didn't do him enough justice. He was drop dead gorgeous.

Sookie felt the butterflies come back and tried to calm them as she walked towards him. She saw his face light up into a smile when he saw her and felt those butterflies go away somewhat.

"You must be Sookie," Alcide said as he got to her and raked his eyes over her body.

"Yes, I am. Alcide?" she asked as she blushed under his scrutinizing.

"That's me," he said was a grin. "Shall we?"

They made their way to the restaurant and were quickly seated. They both quickly looked over the menu and decided on what they wanted, laughing when they saw how quickly they made their choices. "Do you like barbeque?" Sookie asked him.

"I love it," Alcide said. "If I could eat it every day, I probably would."

Sookie laughed, saying, "I know what you mean. It makes me think of summers with my family."

From there, the conversation flowed fairly easily. The only thing Sookie noticed was that Alcide continued to look at her chest and other parts of her body whenever he could and that made her fairly uncomfortable. But, she figured he was probably just enjoying the view and she shouldn't let it creep her out a whole lot.

Dinner, overall, went very well. There weren't a whole lot of awkward silences and she really felt a connection with him. After he paid the bill and they started walking back to their cars, she hoped he would suggest a second date. They reach her car and she says, "I had a really nice time tonight; thank you for dinner."

"It was my pleasure," he said as he leaned in for a kiss.

He lightly pecked her lips and Sookie smiled. Alcide then went in and kissed her again. Sookie was really enjoying the kiss (it had been so long!) when she felt Alcide put his hands on her waist. She didn't really think anything of it and allowed herself to enjoy the kiss even more. Then she felt his hands start to move around and felt one graze her breast. She tensed slightly, but his hand moved away and she relaxed again. A few seconds later, her breast was grazed again and she felt him grab onto it.

Sookie pulled away and looked at him. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Nothing," Alcide said, trying to come in for another kiss.

Sookie quickly moved to where he couldn't kiss her and said, "That definitely wasn't 'nothing.' You definitely did 'something.'"

Alcide sighed and said, "Seriously, what's the big deal? You're a hot woman, I'm a hot man. It's understandable that we'd be attracted to each other. And that something would happen with this attraction."

"Excuse me?" she said, offended. "Just because we're attracted to each other does not mean something has to happen."

"Come on, I know you're attracted to me. Just go with it, baby," Alcide said.

Sookie sucked in a breath and pushed herself out of his arms. "Excuse me, just because we're attracted to each other doesn't mean that something is going to happen. Where do you get off on feeling me up and suggesting something like that?" Sookie fumed.

Alcide looked surprised. "Don't stand there and act like you didn't want something to happen tonight. You're wearing a tight shirt that makes your breasts look amazing and you're a total sexpot. Are you just a cock tease then?"

Sookie gasped. "How dare you!"

During his little speech she had pulled her keys out and hit the unlock button on the key fob. She took this opportunity to quickly get into her car and slam the door, locking it before it could pull it open again. Alcide tried to get the door open and started yelling at her through the window, calling her a cock tease and all sorts of names.

Sookie was frantically trying to start her car and get out of there while also holding her tears at bay. She was able to start her car and quickly slammed it into gear, peeling out of the parking lot. She quickly made it back to her apartment and dissolved into tears on her couch.

Her date with Alcide had started out so well and then it went to hell after. Once she calmed herself she looked at herself in the mirror to see if Alcide's claims had any validity. Her shirt was slightly low cut, but it wasn't indecent. Her jeans, while slightly tight, were not indecent either. Sookie sighed and figured out Alcide was just being mean and was angry she didn't give into him.

She made her way into her room and changed into some comfy pajamas. She debated about getting onto the dating website, but decided to hold off on it for the evening since her date had not gone very well. She decided to read a little bit before heading to bed and figuring out what to do about her dating life. She went to her bookshelf and pulled off the first novel in one of her favorite series by author Charlaine Harris. She figured a little Viking vampire stuff would be just what she needed to cheer her up.

She settled on the couch with her book and a cup of hot cocoa, turning her phone off and immersed herself into a supernatural world, reading until she fell asleep on her couch a little while later.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Sookie made the choice the following morning to maybe take a little break from talking to guys. She wouldn't stop looking on the site, but she would definitely be more discerning about who she agreed to meet.

Having made that decision, she ended up not going on any dates for the next few weeks because it was the end of the semester and she was trying to get grades in, students caught up and finish up her semester. She was talking to guys on the site, but she hadn't talked to any that really peaked her interest, so she was happy to just browse and talk to a few guys.

That changed the first day of Christmas break though. She received a message from someone whose name was NordicGod and she was very intrigued when she read his profile. He was originally from Sweden and had lived in the United States since his teenage years. He was a young entrepreneur and owned several different ventures. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, both the same shade and color as her own.

His message to her read:

_BlueEyedAngel,_

_I stumbled across your profile and find myself intrigued. You teach school and are very beautiful. I would love to know more about you. Since you're from Louisiana, are you originally from Shreveport?_

_Hoping to hear from you,_

_Nordic God_

Sookie smiled to herself and she was definitely intrigued by him also. She quickly hit the reply button and responded:

_NordicGod,_

_I find myself intrigued by you as well. You're originally from Sweden, but have lived in the United States for a while now. What originally brought you over here? And I am not from Shreveport originally, though I am from a small town that is fairly close to it._

_BlueEyedAngel_

Sookie quickly sent the message before she could overthink it too much. She was worried it was too short and that he wouldn't respond. After sending the message, Sookie quickly got dressed and gathered her things for the day. Since she didn't have school, she was heading to Bon Temps since she hadn't been in a while to visit her Gran's grave and to possibly see her brother. She knew Jason probably wouldn't make a point to see her even though it was the holiday season and wanted to make sure she at least dropped her present to him off at his house.

Once she was ready, she headed down to her car to start her journey. She stopped to get some fresh flowers from the florist and a cup of coffee from "Neutral Ground" before starting her hour long trek. She hummed along to the radio as she drank her coffee and allowed herself to unwind the closer she moved towards her childhood home.

In what seemed like no time at all, she was pulling onto Hummingbird Lane and making her way up the driveway to where she grew up. Sookie stopped her car and turned it off, sitting there and staring at the house she grew up in. Gran had left her the house when she died, but it was too big for Sookie to live in and impractical for her since she already had a job in Shreveport. So she fixed it up as best she could and rented it out whenever she could. As of right now there were no tenants, but there was a small family that was supposed to move in after the New Year. So, she was going to go inside to ensure that everything was ok so that she didn't have to pay someone to stop by.

Sookie grabbed the flowers for her Gran and made her way into the cemetery. In no time at all she reached her Gran's grave. She knelt down, moving the leaves away from her headstone and placing the flowers in the vase that she placed there right after her Gran died. Sookie tidied up the grave site a little and then started to talk to her Gran about everything that she had done recently and imagining what her Gran would say to her at different points.

It was the little moments in life that Sookie really started to miss her Gran, such as being able to talk to her about guys and get her perspective or just being able to talk to her about anything.

Sookie sighed as she finished talking everything out and stood up, making her way to the house to quickly check on it. She unlocked the door and started her walkthrough, seeing memories everywhere she looked. Sookie started to go through the house more quickly and finished her inspection. She only noticed a few things that might need to be taken care of before her new tenants moved in and made a note to contact someone to come look at everything.

She made sure to lock the house up and then made her way to Jason's house. When she got to his house, she noticed his truck along with another car she didn't recognize. Sookie knew of her brother's preferences for woman and figured it was probably his flavor of the week and decided that she would just leave his gift on the porch and not disturb him. She definitely didn't want to interrupt anything going on inside.

She quickly went up the two steps to his door and propped the package against it and made her way back to her still running car. She noticed what time it was and saw that it was lunch time. She decided to head to "Merlotte's" to have something to eat real quick before making her way back to Shreveport.

Sookie was there in a few minutes and made her way inside, snagging a booth quickly. A waitress made her way over to take her order and Sookie ordered a burger Lafayette all the way with sweet tea. She took a few minutes to quickly check her phone and saw that she had received a reply from NordicGod. She quickly pulled the site up on her phone and read the message. Apparently he moved over with his parents because his dad decided to start an American part of his company and he wanted to spearhead it instead of delegating to someone else. He ended up in Shreveport because he went to college in New Orleans and liked the state, but not the super busy city, so decided to go farther north and picked here. He went on to ask her what she taught and several other questions.

Sookie quickly typed out a reply and sent it. She then took a look around the restaurant, noticing that it really hadn't changed that much since the last time she had been there. The waitresses were the only thing that had changed; the décor, patrons and everything else pretty much looked as it has before. However, she didn't see Sam which was weird since he usually worked during the day.

Sookie mentally shrugged to herself and smiled when she saw her waitress heading her way with her food. Sookie thanked her and dug into her food. She closed her eyes when the first bite hit her tongue. As long as Lafayette had been working at "Merlotte's" he had made this burger. And even though he had moved to LA to be with the man he fell in love with, they still continued to make it.

In no time at all Sookie had eaten her lunch and paid her bill. Before getting up and walking out, she glanced around the restaurant, taking stock of the patrons. Many of them she didn't recognize and she figured that was because it had been a long time since she had lived in Bon Temps.

She nodded to a few people and made her way out to her car, looking around one last time to see if she saw Sam. She didn't, so she climbed in and started the drive back to Shreveport and her apartment.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Over the next few weeks of her break she messaged NordicGod quite a bit. She found out his name was Eric and she told him her name was Sookie. She definitely found herself attracted to him and wanted to meet him, but considering how the other meetings she had with people had gone, she was very wary of meeting anyone else. So far, he hadn't even mentioned meeting up, which surprised her some, but she wasn't going to complain.

Sookie spent her holiday with her friends and spoke with her brother on the phone when he called to thank her for his Christmas gift. Eventually, it was New Year's Eve and she found herself at "Neutral Ground" eating dinner by herself and feeling a little sorry for herself for not having someone to spend it with.

She was sitting there by herself, watching as people walked by outside when she saw a really tall person with long blonde hair walking briskly towards the door to the café. He had to pause several times as people walked in front of him on his way to the door and that allowed her to get a good look at him. She thought he looked familiar, but she couldn't place why he did. During the course of staring at him, he looked her way and she blushed at being caught. She quickly turned her attention to her food and acted like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

Because she was doing that, she missed someone walking up to her table and jumped when he cleared his throat. "Is this seat taken?" a deep voice asked her.

Sookie looked up and tried very hard to contain her surprise at the guy from outside standing at her table with a coffee in his hand. "Erm…" Sookie stumbled, "no, it's not. Sit down if you want."

The guy sat down and Sookie just stared at him. She was incredibly flustered. He was a very attractive man and she couldn't figure out why he looked so familiar to her.

The man returned her stare and smirked at her. "Are you ever going to say anything to me BlueEyedGoddess?" he asked her.

Sookie's eyes got large and she gasped. "NordicGod?" she squeaked out.

"Yes, that is my name. Though I prefer Eric in the real world."

Sookie swallowed and smiled. "Well, I prefer Sookie, so this could work out."

Eric laughed. "At least you have a sense of humor. What brings you here tonight?" Eric asked, indicating the nearly empty café.

"Well, normally I'd probably be out with my girlfriends, but the majority of them are married and are doing something with other married friends or they have kids and want to spend tonight with them. So, here I am," she said.

Eric nodded, like he understood, and said, "Well, I guess their loss is my gain."

Sookie grinned and nodded her head in agreement. Over the next few hours they sat there and talked and Sookie found herself incredibly comfortable around Eric. Talking for so long online really helped her to get to know him and they were able to take that online comfort to the table that evening.

Eventually Sookie looked around and noticed that they were the only people inside the restaurant besides the waiters who were cleaning the restaurant up. Sookie glanced at her watch and gasped. "Oh my! I didn't realize it was so late! The café closed almost an hour ago!" Sookie started to freak out and gather her things together when she felt a hand on her own.

She looked down at Eric's hand and then at him, trying not to shiver at the tingles she felt where he touched her. "Don't worry about it," he told her, "it's fine."

"Don't worry? They're almost done cleaning and I know they want to get home. I remember being a waitress and how annoying it was when you wanted to go home but couldn't because there were those patrons that just wouldn't leave."

Sookie started to gather her things together when she heard Eric say, "Chris, Steve, when you're finished you can go on and head home; I'll lock up tonight."

The two guys nodded ok and quickly finished up their work before leaving. When they were by themselves, Sookie looked at Eric with a questioning look on her face.

Eric smiled and said, "Neutral Ground is one of the restaurants I own in the city. I decided to come here tonight because it was small and I wouldn't be around a lot of people. I'm very glad I did since that means I got to meet you."

"You own this place?" Sookie asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yes, as well as a few other restaurants."

Sookie looked at him in awe. "You seriously own this place? I love this place! I come here as much as I can!"

Eric smiled and said, "Well, I'm glad. It is definitely one of my favorite holdings."

They stayed in the café for a little while longer before Sookie said she really thought she should be heading home soon since it was so late and she knew that if she didn't go on then everyone would start heading home from their parties. Eric nodded and helped her get into her jacket. They walked to the door and Eric quickly locked up before asking her, "Where are you parked?"

Sookie blushed and said, "I didn't drive here. I only live a few blocks away so I walked."

"Well, I guess that means I'm walking you home," Eric said, offering her his arm.

"You don't have to do that," Sookie protested.

"Yes, I do," Eric said. "I won't let you walk home by yourself and wonder if you made it safely."

Instead of arguing, Sookie agreed and took his arm. They walked to her building in companionable silence and reached it rather quickly. When they reached it, Eric insisted on walking her to her door and Sookie let him into the building.

When they reached her door, she saw Eric looking at his watch, so she jokingly said, "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

Eric laughed and said, "No, I'm just checking the time. It's one minute to midnight and I wanted to help you ring in the New Year."

Sookie gasped as Eric checked his watch again. "10," Eric said as he slid his arms around her waist.

"9," as he pulled her closer to him.

"8," she put her arms around his neck.

"7," as she tilted her head up to look at him.

"6," as he looked at her lips.

"5," as he starts to lower his face to hers.

"4," she gets ready to kiss him.

"3," their noses brush.

"2," he nuzzles her nose.

"1," and he pressed his lips to hers in a searing kiss that Sookie can feel all the way to her toes.

The kiss seemed to go on forever but couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds. When they pulled away from each other, Sookie whispered, "Wow."

"Wow indeed," Eric said.

He pulled her back for another kiss and they stood in her hall for a while just kissing each other. After a while, Eric pulled back and said, "Well, I do need to get home even though I definitely don't want to. Can I get your number and we meet up later this week?"

Sookie nodded and told him her number so he could put it in her phone. "I just texted you so you'd have my number," Eric said.

Sookie nodded and smiled. "Thank you for tonight, Eric."

"It was my pleasure," he told her before quickly kissing her again.

"Goodnight," Sookie said as she pulled back and unlocked her door.

He said goodnight to her also before making his way to the elevator. Sookie shut the door and leaned against it with a goofy smile on her face. She had finally had a good date! Sookie did a silent cheer as she made her way to her room to get ready for bed. She really couldn't believe how amazing her date had gone and went to bed with a smile on her face.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Over the course of the next several weeks, Sookie and Eric met up quite a bit for dates and Sookie's friends started to wonder why Sookie was suddenly begging off about meeting up with them.

After several weeks of "casually" seeing each other, Sookie and Eric decided to officially start dating and Sookie introduced him to her friends, which sent them into fits since they had no idea she had started to see anyone or was even looking. They were very happy for her once they got over the initial shock of how they met and couldn't stop gushing about how hot Eric was.

As her and Eric moved through their relationship, Sookie couldn't get over how happy she was with him. While they had their fights (and boy were they intense), they had a pretty calm relationship. They made a point of always discussing whatever was bothering them and tried to never go to bed angry.

The few times they weren't able to work it out, they were able to have some pretty impressive make-up sex and that almost made it worth fighting. Almost.

Before they both knew it, a year had passed and it was New Year's Eve again. Even though it wasn't their official dating day, they were celebrating it as their one year anniversary. Sookie was giddy with excitement since Eric wouldn't tell her anything about the date and she didn't know what to expect, just that she should dress up a little.

She decided to wear a beige crochet dress that fit her like a glove with red high heels. She paired it with a red bracelet and red earrings and some light makeup. She left her hair down with natural curls. After checking that everything looked ok, she quickly gathered her things and put her coat on, knowing that Eric would be there soon.

As soon as she got her coat on, she heard the buzzer announcing he was downstairs and quickly locked up her apartment and made her way to him. She smiled when she saw him and kissed him lightly. "Hey handsome," she said as she took his proffered arm.

"Hey beautiful," he said as he helped her get into the car. Sookie smiled and took his hand as soon as he got into the car.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" she asked him once they got going.

Eric laughed and said, "What makes you think I'm going to tell you that?"

Sookie started to pout, which caused Eric to laugh even harder. A few minutes later, they pulled up to "Neutral Ground" and Sookie looked at Eric, asking, "What are we doing here?"

"This is where we're eating dinner," he told her as he climbed out.

Eric came around and helped her out of his car and she said, "But I thought you closed it tonight so that the staff could enjoy the night."

"I did close it for the staff. But that doesn't mean that as the owner I can't open it for us."

Sookie giggled and walked with him to the door. Before he unlocked it, he pulled out a blindfold and said, "I don't want you to see anything yet."

Sookie swallowed, slightly nervous, but she trusted Eric and nodded her assent. He tied the blindfold around her eyes and she then heard him unlocking the door. He grabbed her hand and led her inside. He guided her inside and then said, "Stay right here. I'll take the blindfold off in a minute."

She then heard him moving around in the room, things moving and a weird clicking noise. Next thing she knew she felt him standing in front of her and he was removing the blindfold. She looked at him and saw him smiling before he moved out of the way so she could see the room.

He had cleared the room of everything but one table and put fairy lights all over the place, giving the room a soft, romantic glow. On the table was an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne, two glasses and some covered dishes which held their food, she was sure.

But what really caught her eye was a little box in front of the champagne bucket that was a bright red, the only red thing in the entire room. "What's in the box, Eric?" she asked.

Eric laughed lightly and said, "I was wondering how long it would take you to notice that sitting there."

He then walked over and picked it up before turning to face her. "This little box is the gift I couldn't give you for Christmas."

Sookie looked at him with a confused look on her face as he made his way to her. "This little box is a promise for the future," he continued as he came up to her.

"The future?" she asked, not quite understanding what his meaning was.

"Yes, the future," he said as he then got down on one knee.

Sookie gasped as she realized what he meant. "Sookie," Eric started, making her focus on his face, "I realize it technically hasn't been a year, but I've felt ever since we started talking online and then met in person that you were 'it' for me. I've never felt this way before. Will you marry me?"

During his speech, tears had started to stream down Sookie's face and she found herself nodding before he even asked the question. "Yes!" she practically shouted as he finished.

Eric's face broke out into a huge grin as he slipped the ring on her finger and he stood up, kissing her fiercely on the mouth. Sookie couldn't stop grinning and was starting to freak out inside. As they broke for air, a random thought popped into her mind and she asked him, "Eric, what was that clicking noise from earlier?"

"Clicking noise?" he asked, confused. He thought for a few moments and said, "Oh! That was probably me hitting the record button on the camcorder I set up to catch this on video."

"You really set that up to capture this?" Sookie asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"Yeah, I did. I thought you might like it," he told her.

"I definitely do," she said as she pulled him down for another kiss; the first of many in their lives together.


End file.
